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Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker and New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo, as well as leading lawmakers in Michigan and elsewhere, are using their state’s budget “surplus” to justify new tax cuts. That’s highly imprudent, if not irresponsible.

State budget surpluses typically appear when the economy emerges from recession. After a few years of weaker-than-expected...

Low-wage working families have less support in North Carolina as of January 1. That’s when the state officially eliminated its earned income tax credit (EITC), giving North Carolina the dubious distinction of being the only state ever to do so.

Half the states have created EITCs (see map) to help working families with incomes up to roughly $50,000 make ends meet. As...

Half of the states and the District of Columbia have enacted earned income tax credits (EITCs) to supplement the federal EITC, the nation’s most effective tool for reducing poverty among working families and children. The federal EITC lifted 6.5 million people — half of them children — out of poverty in 2012, and it has...

Not only have many states imposed deep funding cuts for K-12 schools since the recession hit, as our recent report explained, but most of the states that cut the deepest also cut income tax rates, reducing revenue that might have gone to schools.

No state did more to cut taxes in 2012 than Kansas, and no governor proclaimed as loudly as Kansas’ Sam Brownback that tax cuts would have minimal negative impact on public services. So it’s worth looking at what our recent 50-state report on...

Outdated sales taxes are keeping states from fully competing in a 21st century economy. As they emerge from the recession, many states are recognizing the urgent need to invest in highly competitive education systems, modern transportation networks, and a range of other innovative public initiatives that will form a strong foundation for future economic growth. But states won’t be...

Five years after the start of the Great Recession, state revenues remain 5 percent below pre-recession levels, after adjusting for inflation, even as the number of people needing state services has grown. So, it’s not surprising that more than a dozen states have enacted or...